Angry Video Game Nerd
The Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN or The Nerd for short) is an online series created by and featuring James Rolfe. Each episode provides satirical and crude review on older video games that are deemed to have low quality. The show and name of the character was originally The Angry Nintendo Nerd, but was changed as of Episode 14 to allow for game reviews outside the Nintendo library to be reviewed, and to avoid any copyright problems with the company. Several episodes focused on the Back to the Future video games and several games in the LJN library. The series has gone up past 100 episodes and also had feature film based off it. Reviews Episode 6: Back to the Future (July 21, 2006) The Nerd stated that he doesn't want to review Back to the Future (For the NES), but if he didn't, Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan would melt his brain. His first point of criticism was the music. It bears no relation to the theme from the movie, loops frequently and is the only piece of music for most of the game. Next, he described the lack of creativity in gathering clocks. Then covered the enemies in the game which include bullys, hula hoop girls, killer bees and guys moving glass windows. He wondered what they have to do with Back to the Future as well as bringing up other changes from the game including the use of the bowling ball, and Marty having both helmet hair & a sleeveless black shirt rather than his down vest. The Nerd commended the inclusion of the skateboard, but pointed out that it speeds Marty up too much. He questioned the use of the jump capability as it seems to make no difference regarding the difficulty of the game, followed by a rant on the frequent challenges by the game's enemies. He found the stage based on Lou's Cafe to be a breath of fresh air as it lacks the usual walking and music, but found it confusing on how to toss the milkshake to customers as being in front of them don't guarantee success. The Nerd expressed the game's biggest offense is carrying the name Back to the Future and that the movie deserves a much more decent game. He pointed out how the movie came out in 1985 and as such found it inexcusable for a game made in 1989 to be horrible, given that four years should have been sufficient to program a decent game. He closed by claiming that he wouldn't play the game again and then brought up the sequel. He noted that Back to the Future Part II & III at least has the DeLorean time machine, but mentions that the enemies which as before has nothing to do with the movies in question. He stated that a problem with the Delorean is that it drops the player off in the opposite of the direction they are moving in, and found the game too challenging. The Nerd considered going back in time to prevent the games from being made, but lacks a Flux capacitor and the Plutonium do so. The review ends with him pointing out that at the very least, the games fit in a toaster and puts a cartridge in. DVD Release The video contained footage from the movie trilogy edited in to make it appear as if the characters were responding to comments in the review (i.e. George McFly laughing at The Honeymooners is inserted at the end after The Nerd puts the cart in the toaster). Bits from the Back to the Future Theme, The Power of Love and Back in Time are played in the background. The material, however, was omitted from the Volume 1 DVD Release for copyright related reasons. Episode 94: Back to the Future Revisited (September 3, 2010) The Nerd decided to revisit a majority of games he reviewed in 2006, which include Top Gun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Afterwards, he moved onto the Back to the Future games for the NES. His reasons for doing a second review are because of the lack of detailed provided on the games he did review, as well as there being several BTTF games that he didn't cover and because of his poor appearance in the earlier video (shirt wrinkled up and unbuttoned). He jokingly referred to himself as a slacker. He started by continuing where he left off for the first game. Some new complaints involved how all of the street stages are the same aside from color details to the point of being lazy. Upon playing the classroom stage which involves blocking hearts given by Lorraine, his thoughts are that the developers went for a literal adapting of the movie (collecting clocks to reflect the theme of time, and blocking hearts since romance is a major theme as well). The Nerd's problem with the Enchantment Under the Sea dance included the continual repeat of catching notes and after recognizing the theme as Johnny B. Goode wonders why the music couldn't have been a little better compared to something like the NES' rendition of the DuckTales theme. His review concluded with the game's final stage and wondering why players have to dodge the lightning since the Delorean had to be struck with it to send it back to the future. He finishes by stating that despite some accurate, details the game barely resembles the movie. He opened his second review of Back to the Future Part II and III by complimenting the use of Back in Time at the intro and the story scenes leading into the game. He jokingly explained the game exclusive enemies as being part of a different timeline and that Biff's actions in 1955 caused them to exist. This time he covered the items that had to be retrieved and the following problems: The key needed to open the rooms could be impossible to get at times, where to deposit a particular item, having to solve a puzzle before dropping off the item & losing it if it's the wrong one and the location of the items & where to deposit them change every time. The review was concluded with a demonstration of the password used to skip to the later half of the game and critiquing it for requiring unscrambling. The review for Back to the Future Part III (Sega Genesis) started with The Nerd pointing out it has the BTTF theme, but the rendition is considered horrible. He found himself unable to complete the first stage as the enemies & obstacles come too fast to allow a moment of thought and speculated that the challenge was done to compensate for the game only having 4 stages. The Nerd decided to try Super Back to the Future Part II which was released for the Japanese exclusive console, the Super Famicom. He was surprised to find it not only had the theme song, but a decent rendition of it, as well as more characters and elements (gameplay and story) from the movies. His appreciation for it, still involved some disappointment in that a game that good was never released in US. DVD Release This episode was released on The Angry Video Game Nerd Volume 5. References to Back to the Future in other episodes *Episode 20 "Atari 5200": While having trouble plugging the Atari 5200 system into the TV, the Nerd says "Damn!" in the same manner that 1955 Doc says when waiting for Marty to arrive at the clocktower (Back to the Future). *Episode 33 "Nintendo Power": The Nerd reads a bit from an unspecified issue of Nintendo Power regarding the then upcoming release of Back to the Future for the NES. The description is "It has that distinctive LJN style and an interesting "timer"". *Episode 39 "An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol, Part 2": The Nerd is shown his future, in which an older Nerd reviews some games for the Nintendo Wii. The future Nerd states that the Wii Remote was revolutionary for it's time, but now "it's like a baby's toy" (similar to Elijah Wood's comment on Wild Gunman). Before waking up at the end, The Nerd briefly recalls the bad games he played up to this point, including Back to the Future. *Episode 47 "NES Accessories": When reviewing the NES Zapper, he demonstrates it on Wild Gunman and quotes "You gotta use your hands? That's like a baby's toy.". *Episode 85 "Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight": The Nerd jokingly states that the game Street Fighter 2010 accurately predicted the year 2010 and then concludes in five years, flying cars, hoverboards and self-lacing shoe laces will be invented. While he's making the statement, footage of BTTF 2 (where Marty walks into Hill Valley Townsquare) with The Power of Love playing briefly. **The DVD Version replaces the footage with still photos and omits TPoL. *Episode 100 "R.O.B.": The Nerd sets up the Nintendo accessory ROB to play a game of Gyromite. After finishing up, he states the setup to look like something "built by Doc Brown or Peewee Herman". In addition, Back to the Future Part II and III is one of the games briefly displayed at the end of the video. *Episode 101 "Steven Spielberg Games": The Nerd plays the NES game ''Jaws''. Afterwards, he states that he would throw it in the sea, but doesn't because there is an antiques store opening in Hill Valley in 2015 that he intends to take it to. This is a reference to the fact that the Jaws NES game can be seen in the window of Blast from the Past in Back to the Future Part II. *Episode 136 "Seaman": At one point, The Nerd says "grab my scrote". He explains that he said scrote as the episode came out in 2015, referring to Leslie "Spike" O'Malley's use of the word in Back to the Future Part II. References to Back to the Future in the movie *During a dream where gamers find the E.T. (referred to in the movie as Eee Tee for copyright reasons) cartridges in the New Mexico landfill, The Nerd reacts by saying "They found them. I don't know how, but they found them.". The quote is similar to Doc's reaction to the Libyan terrorists finding him in Back to the Future. *While driving to escape General Onward, The Nerd and his friends have to dodge a couple of people in the street carrying a glass window, which they succeed in doing so while Onward is not so lucky. The two people carrying a glass window was a reference to the Back to the Future video game. Non-AVGN Back to the Future articles and videos *James visited several film locations: **http://cinemassacre.com/2008/09/12/twin-pines-mall/ **http://cinemassacre.com/2008/09/13/more-back-to-the-future-locations/ *James reviews the movies from the BTTF Trilogy: **http://cinemassacre.com/2009/11/04/back-to-the-future-movie-review/ **http://cinemassacre.com/2009/11/11/back-to-the-future-part-2-movie-review/ **http://cinemassacre.com/2009/11/18/back-to-the-future-part-3-movie-review/ *James interviews AJ LoCascio in regards to his role as Marty: **http://cinemassacre.com/2010/11/05/aj-locascio-interview/ *James samples Back to the Future: The Game Episode 1 with a friend: **http://cinemassacre.com/2011/06/23/back-to-the-future-game-review/ *James and Mike play Universal Studios: Theme Park Adventure Part 2 (First 3-4 minutes of the video includes Mike playing the game's version of Back to the Future: The Ride): **http://cinemassacre.com/2014/02/24/universal-studios-theme-parks-adventure-part-2/ *James and Mike play Back to the Future Part III for the Sega Genesis: **http://cinemassacre.com/2014/06/02/back-to-the-future-3-sega-genesis-james-mike-mondays/ Reception In his interview with Telltale Games, Bob Gale expressed displeasure with LJN's work on the game and pointed to Episode 6 of The AVGN to back up his opinion.http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-687 AJ LoCascio bought the Sega Genesis release of Back to the Future Part III, which he found to be extremely difficult. Upon seeing the review of the game in Episode 94, AJ was interested in having an interview with James Rolfe. External links * *Episode 6 **Episode 6 on YouTube **Episode 6 on Cinemassacre *Episode 94 **Episode 94 on YouTube **Episode 94 on Cinemassacre ***Episode 94 commentary Category:Fan-created films